North America. USA and Canada will qualify. No other nation in North America or the Caribbean will be given any chance to compete – this denies access to Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Cayman Islands, and Bermuda.

* South America. No South American nations will be given any chance to compete for a place in the World Cup. So no hope us to see the players from the sevens sensations Brazil, for example.

Asia. One qualifier from a tournament, details to be announced. Teams taking part in the are likely to (but will not necessarily) include Japan, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, and Singapore.

Africa. South Africa qualify automatically. So no chance for the very active women’s teams from Uganda or Kenya, leave alone Rwanda, Zambia or Zimbabwe, among others.

Oceania. New Zealand qualify automatically, Australia will play-off against Samoa. So the door is shut on Fiji and Tonga.“